Madagascar coup; the oath of a commander; the suspension of a country.
“The rule of law must prevail over the rule of force,” said Mohamed Ali Youssef, the chairman of the African Union Commission, in a statement, stressing that “the rule of law must prevail over the rule of force.”
Madagascar’s 51-year-old President Andry Rajoelina left the country earlier this week after nearly three weeks of public protests, saying he had fled to a safe place “for fear of his life.” The president also dissolved parliament, but the parliament ignored the order and on Tuesday impeached and removed Rajoelina in absentia. The developments came as a military unit entered the capital on Saturday and announced on Tuesday that the army had taken control of the country.
The Malagasy army issued a statement announcing that Colonel Randrianirina would be sworn in as Madagascar’s new president on Friday at a ceremony at the “High Constitutional Court.” Rajoelina has condemned these actions, refused to announce his resignation, and continues to consider himself the legitimate president of Madagascar.
Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional organization on Wednesday formed a delegation of elders to try to ease political tensions in Madagascar. Malawian President Peter Mutharika, who is also the current chair of the SADC, said former Malawian President Joyce Banda would head the delegation.
Protests in the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar began on Thursday (September 25) over water and electricity shortages but quickly turned into a wider uprising with broader demands for anti-corruption and good governance. The protests, which according to media reports were mainly led by young people protesting the worsening living conditions and inspired by the “Genocide” movements in Kenya and Nepal, have become the largest protest movement in Madagascar in recent years and have now led to the ouster of the government, a military coup with the appearance of legality and the intervention of parliament in removing the president.
The Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar is grappling with widespread poverty, and some blame the government of Rajoelina, who was re-elected in 2023, for the country’s lack of improvement. According to the World Bank, about 75 percent of the country’s 30 million people lived below the poverty line in 2022. The country has experienced a history of coups and political crises since gaining independence from France in 1960. This is the latest military coup in France’s former African colonies since 2020, following coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon, and Guinea.